48.
In a brief of December 14, 1995, regarding the claim for compensation, the
State acknowledged that “all the domestic remedies have been filed and exhausted in
accordance with the principles of international law.”14 Subsequently, after the parties
had tried unsuccessfully to reach a friendly settlement, the State, prior to the
Admissibility Report, submitted observations on the petitioner’s arguments concerning
the administrative proceeding in a brief of November 19, 2001. In this regard, it
argued that: (a) the facts that the petitioner uses as grounds for his claim for
compensation occurred before the Convention entered into force […] and, therefore,
are excluded from the Commission’s competence: (b) “the petitioner did not use the
available remedies to contest his procedural situation,” for example, by an appeal for
annulment, but rather “he agreed to all the procedural actions ordered by the
respective judicial authorities; […] the extended duration of his procedural situation
was evidently the result of [Mr.] Grande’s indifference or legal inexperience and/or that
of his legal counsel.” The claim for compensation is based on “the invalidation decided
by the criminal justice system, which he did not request, of a search to which he not
only agreed spontaneously, but that was a result of his own complaint”; (c) the
inexistence of miscarriage of justice (Article 10) based on the decisions of the
administrative court and on the principle of estoppel, and (d) “the dismissal of the case
was founded on the impossibility of obtaining new evidence for the prosecution,” in
relation to the violation of the presumption of innocence (Article 8(2) of the
Convention).
b)
Admissibility Report No. 3/02
49.
Subsequently, the Commission issued Admissibility Report No. 3/02 of February
27, 2002, in which it analyzed the admissibility requirements and considered, in this
regard, that “the parties agree that the pertinent domestic remedies with regard to Mr.
Grande’s claim to obtain compensation were exhausted based on the decision of the
Supreme Court of Justice of April 12, 1994, that rejected the remedy of complaint.”
Regarding the scope of the petition, the Commission indicated that “the complaints
lodged before it refer to Mr. Grande’s detention, the related criminal proceedings filed
against him in 1980, proceedings that remained pending until the charges were
dismissed (1989), and the civil actions that he filed seeking compensation.”
50.
Regarding the time frame for presentation of the petition, based on the file of
the administrative proceedings, the Commission indicated that the “Mr. Grande
received the final judgment on May 3, 1994, and the petition was presented on
October 31, 1994, received […] on November 2, 1994”; thus, it was presented within
the six months established in Article 46(1)(b) of the Convention. Also, regarding the
characteristics of the facts adduced, “based on the principle of iuria novit curia, in its
decisions on merits [the Commission indicated that] it would also examine the
provision established in Articles [8 and 25 of the Convention] that any person accused
of a criminal offense has the right to be heard within a reasonable time.” Lastly, the
Commission rejected the arguments relating to the alleged violation of Article 10 of the
Convention, “because no final judgment was handed down against Mr. Grande, but
rather his case was dismissed.”
51.
Following the Admissibility Report, in its brief of November 7, 2002 (in response
to the Commission’s note of September 3, 2002), the State indicated in the relevant
part that: “it appeared that the analytical framework of the Report did not coincide
14
Cf. Brief of the State of December 14, 1995 (appendices to the application, appendix 3, f. 729).
12